Asos has enjoyed strong growth in the first half of its financial year, with double digit growth across the board while the number of visits to its website exceeded one billion for the first time.
According to the online retailer’s interim report for the six months ending February 28, pre-tax profit rose 10 per cent from £27.3 million to £29.9 million.
Revenue increased 27 per cent, or 25 per cent on a constant currency basis, to £1.16 billion from £911.5 million.
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Overall retail sales grew 27 per cent to £1.13 billion, with UK retail sales growing 22 per cent to £414.5 million and international retail sales increasing 31 per cent, or 28 per cent on a constant currency basis, to £716.8 million.
Meanwhile, the retail gross margin increased by 100 basis points to 48 per cent.
Asos added that the number of active customers on its website increased 17 per cent, the average basket value grew two per cent and the number of frequent orders rose eight per cent in the period.
After investing more than £95 million into the company in the first half of the year, Asos said total capital expenditure is set to increase to £230-£250 million in both 2018 and 2019 as it targets £4 billion in net sales capacity.
“These results show strong trading at the same time as we are making substantial investment in our future,” chief executive Nick Beighton said.
“Our customer engagement is going from strength to strength and we’ve achieved more than a billion site visits for the first time.
“Alongside our investment in our people and our technology, we are accelerating investment in our distribution and logistics, laying the foundation for £4 billion of net sales, a further step in building Asos into the world’s number one destination for fashion loving 20-somethings.”
Asos said its guidance for current financial year remains the same, with a forecast of sales growth of between 25 per cent and 30 per cent and an earnings before interest and tax margin of four per cent.
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